We’re enjoying seeing some progress on our knit-along (if you’re new to the blog, see our Stitchmastery is 7; Anniversary Mittens KAL and design-along! post for full information) and we’re delighted to hear that some intrepid knitters are considering trying stranded colourwork for the first time. We thought it might be helpful to point you in the direction of some resources which might help you get the best from your project.
Brand new to stranded knitting
If you’ve never tried stranded colourwork before, Kate Atherley has a beginners video tutorial on Knitty.com – http://knitty.com/ISSUEff18/FEATff18WK/FEATff18WK.php
This blog post from TinCanKnits gives a simple project to try, especially if you’d like to try stranded knitting on larger needles before starting knitting our mittens – How to knit Fair Isle patterns
Got the basics, looking to develop skills
If you’ve got used to the basics of stranded knitting, Knotions issue July 2017 has a helpful article for finessing the technique – Tips for Fair Isle or Stranded Knitting
The Knotions article mentions knitting outside in (or inside out), which is demonstrated in the following video from KnittyMelissa on Youtube:
Last year’s Year of Techniques book & project by Arnall-Culliford Knitting featured colourwork as one of the topics, and Jen presents a video here on colour dominance – https://www.masondixonknitting.com/year-techniques-fair-isle-color-dominance/
Andrea of the Fruity Knitting podcast has a section in a tutorial on the Baa-ble hat which shows how she catches longer floats, and also how she weaves in the start of a new colour yarn (starting at section 5) – https://fruityknitting.com/2016/07/16/baa-ble-hat-by-donna-smith/. Luckily our Anniversary Mittens don’t have many long floats, and you might not feel that you need to catch the floats so often at this guage (especially if you’re using a woolly/sticky yarn like Shetland wool), but the techniques are well worth a look!
Another comprehensive resource is the DVD or film download 50 tips from Shetland Knitters by Hazel Tindall and Elizabeth Johnston, which covers a huge range of topics from casting on to finishing and blocking/dressing a project – whether you watch the full 3.5 hours in one go or dip in from time to time, you’re bound to learn something useful!
Do you have any go-to sources for learning new techniques, or tips for our new mitten-knitters?